Mercedes Maybach Targets Rolls-Royce LuxuryMercedes-MaybachMercedes is set to double down on its Maybach high-end luxury brand. Work is underway in Stuttgart on a new generation of vehicles designed to move Mercedes-Maybach closer to Rolls-Royce and further away from Mercedes-Benz in terms of price and perceived luxury. These next-gen Maybachs will boast a more distinctive design and the continued availability of V-12 engines that will clearly distinguish them from top-end Mercedes-Benz vehicles such as the S-Class sedan and GLS SUV that present Maybach models are based upon.Mercedes launched Maybach as a standalone luxury brand in 2002 with two large and lavishly equipped sedans, the Maybach 57, which had a 133.1-inch wheelbase, and the Maybach 62, which rolled on a 150.7-inch wheelbase, measured a gargantuan 243 inches from bumper to bumper, and is still the largest production sedan built this century. The cars went on sale in the aftermath of the 1998 acquisition of Rolls-Royce by BMW and Bentley by Volkswagen Group—which sparked intense interest in the ultra-luxury vehicle segment—but neither proved to be a success.MotorTrend - MotorTrendMercedes had hoped to move 2,000 Maybachs a year, but sales never exceeded a few hundred annually. The engineering, development, and launch of the 57 and 62 reportedly cost the equivalent of $1.75 billion (in today's dollars), and when production was discontinued in 2013, Mercedes was reported to have lost an eye-watering $430,000 on each car it had sold. Despite holding talks with Aston Martin about co-developing replacements for the 57 and 62 (Aston would have also used the hardware to underpin an all-new Lagonda ultra-luxury sedan), Mercedes instead switched Maybach to effectively being a top-end trim level on the S-Class sedan, and, subsequently, the GLS and EQS SUVs, and the SL convertible.Movin' on Up, and Getting LongerThe recently unveiled 2027 Mercedes-Maybach GLS SUV shows why Stuttgart is rethinking its Maybach strategy. The refreshed Maybach GLS is identical to its Mercedes-Benz sibling in every dimension. It's effectively a Mercedes-Benz with Maybach appliques—badges, wheels, and a big shiny grille. The "Maybach-ness" is added on, not built in, and is most noticeable in the rear seat, where the GLS has nowhere near the expansive rear-seat accommodation as the Maybach S-Class sedan, which benefits from a wheelbase stretch.AdvertisementAdvertisement"We have been evaluating this on a daily basis," confirmed a senior Stuttgart source when asked whether today's Maybach lineup looks different enough from the Mercedes-Benz cars on which they are based. "We are looking all the time into customer feedback and dealer feedback about what to change and what to improve."manufacturer - MotorTrendThe 2027 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class sedan hints at how Maybach will be reinvented. The Maybach S-Class is still very recognizably related to the recently refreshed S-Class sedan, as the two cars are identical from the B-pillars forward. But the Maybach rolls on a 133.7-inch wheelbase, which is 7.1 inches longer than that of a long-wheelbase S-Class. All of that is devoted to increased rear-seat legroom, and it has unique sheetmetal from the B-pillars to the taillights. The Maybach S-Class is also now the only Mercedes—save the armored S-Class Guard—available with the smooth 6.0-liter V-12 engine.Unique sheetmetal, more room for rear-seat passengers, V-12 engines: These are the characteristics that will differentiate future Mercedes-Maybach models from their Mercedes-Benz brethren. Engineers in Stuttgart are already working on getting the V-12 to meet the tough Euro 7 emissions. (The U.S. is one of the few markets in the world where the Mercedes-Maybach S680 sedan has the V-12; elsewhere the S680 is powered by a version of the flat-plane-crank, twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 that sits under the hood of the new Mercedes-Benz S580 but upgraded from 530 hp to 621 hp.) The revised V-12 will be deployed to power top-spec versions of the next-generation Maybach GLS and SL as well as the S sedan.Mercedes-MaybachThe next GLS will have a longer wheelbase and even more luxurious rear-seat accommodation. And while they will share much Mercedes-Benz hardware under the skin, both it and the SL will look markedly different from their Mercedes-Benz-badged siblings. The Maybach S sedan will also get much more differentiated sheetmetal when the next-gen model appears in the aftermath of the launch of the new W224 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which is expected to appear sometime between 2028 and 2030.AdvertisementAdvertisementIn the 1930s, a V-12 Maybach cost more than twice as much as a Rolls-Royce. At under $200,000, the top-of-the-range Mercedes-Maybach GLS680 is less than half the price of a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, while the new S680 costs $120,000 less than Rolls-Royce's entry-level Ghost sedan and about $300,000 less than the iconic Phantom. Insiders insist the Maybach brand is now hugely profitable, and they see the huge price gap to Rolls-Royce as an area they can exploit with a Mercedes-Maybach lineup that's much more clearly differentiated from high-end Mercedes-Benz models.